They have been elected, but they do not rule. A gigantic debt of the State Treasury towards judges of the Constitutional Tribunal

As RMF FM journalist Tomasz Skory calculates, the basic salary of a judge of the Tribunal is almost PLN 44,000. PLN gross, which is over PLN 30,000 on hand. Since the election of the judges still not adjudicating in March, each of them should have earned over PLN 300,000. gross.

Not receiving payments from the Tribunal, the judges turned to the Sejm, which elected them. However, the Marshal of the Sejm refused. When remuneration is not paid by the Constitutional Tribunal, these matters are regulated by the government - explained Włodzimierz Czarzasty. However, he doesn't pay either.

Only for four judges the debt already exceeds one million 200 thousand zlotys. We must also add one month of the term of office of judge Sławomir Patyra spent waiting for the oath, and the month of the term for which Maciej Berek was elected - also without any income.

Every month, the State Treasury's debt to the five non-adjudicating judges increases by almost PLN 220,000.

Only some of the new Constitutional Tribunal judges were invited to the Presidential Palace

In March, the Sejm elected six new judges of the Constitutional Tribunal: Krystian Markiewicz, Marcin Dziurda, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, Maciej Taborowski, Magdalena Bentkowska and Dariusz Szostka. The latter two were invited to the Presidential Palace on April 1, where they took the oath. The remaining four did not receive this invitation, which - as the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland argued - was related to further analysis of their situation.

They took their oath in the Column Hall of the Sejm on April 9, stating that they were doing so "in front of the president." However, Constitutional Tribunal judge Bogdan Święczkowski did not allow them to adjudicate because - as he said - the events involving their participation in the Sejm could not be considered an oath "before the president".

In June, the Sejm elected another judge, Sławomir Patyra, who took the oath at the Presidential Palace at the end of July. He then declared that he would not rule until the remaining four judges of the Court were admitted.